Category: ROCK MEMORIES
Firewind – Rock In Den Ruinen (Dortmund, Germany)
Rock in den Ruinen, was the next stop on my (neverending…) journey across Europe (and the US) to check out Firewind doing their thing. Still enjoying it as much as ever.
Flew into Düsseldorf international airport very early in the morning and rented a car to drive to Dortmund, which is less than an hour away.
The “adventure” started already after 30 minutes when the GPS gave up on me. Suddenly, the battery-symbol started blinking, informing me it was dead– ceased to be. Bye-bye. Oh, wonderful. I found my destination eventually – with the help of my backup, a printed Google-maps description.
It was 8.30 in the morning when I got there, and the show wasn’t until seven in the evening so I had plenty of time to kill. My iPad picked up a T-mobile network, so I paid for a 1-day pass….only to realize that it wasn’t working. The signal was gone. Sigh– five euro down the drain.
So, moving on to Plan B. McDonald’s is a good place for a traveller. You can sit there for hours and nobody cares, they’ve got their own free Wi-Fi and there are toilets, food and everything else you need. So I went to find the nearest McDonald’s.
Only – in Germany they don’t accept anything but CASH at McDonald’s apparently. I’m just not a cash-person, usually travel with just “toilet and tip”-money, the rest is for the credit cards. So I just got the essentials – their loss.
Was hanging there until I got bored and went back to the festival area to find the parking lot. The plan was to take a nap. I needed all the sleep I could get.
[Hanging at McDonald’s in Dortmund…]
There were signs showing where the festival parking was, and loooots of cars in line to get there.
Or so I THOUGHT!
When I finally drove up to the guy with the handheld credit card machine, who didn’t speak a word of English by the way, I asked how much it was. I was expecting him to charge me whatever it cost and then show me where to park the car.
Instead, he tells me to open my trunk. WTF???
So he goes and opens the trunk, and I figured it must be some sort of security thing. He comes back, says something in German, and looks puzzled (not to mention how puzzled I must have looked right back!).
One of his colleagues comes over and tells him in German that I’m probably looking for the festival. Turns out I was in line for the city DUMP where people drive through to get rid of their junk – and apparently pay depending on what they’re getting rid of! Lol! The festival parking was right next to it. :)
Tried to get a few hours of sleep but I had ended up at the Heavy Metal parking-lot. I don’t know WHAT kind of audio-system people are building into their cars, but it sounded louded than a fucking airport! I had earplugs shoved into my ears so hard they almost switched places half way through my head, but heard the Metallica-anthems anyway!
After a while I gave up the sleeping-idea. Decided to go find the box office, get my pass and go watch a few bands instead.
But – I encountered one of those classics. The “Uhmm… no, I don’t see your name on the guest list….”-classic.
The lady was very kind, it wasn’t her fault, and I could tell she felt bad telling me that my name wasn’t on the list she had in front of her – she even showed it to me.
“I*ve got these names for Firewind – could you be listed under a different name or as somebody’s “plus one”?
No. I’m not a “plus one”. :-)
So I had to sort this out. Drummer-Jo saved the day, he got the “chain” of solutions started – and the problem got solved eventually. If I had known, I could at least have brought enough cash to buy my own ticket, but since I knew I was on the list I didn’t think more of it.
In the meantime, a girl with red hair approached me with a smile, said that she heard there was a problem with my pass. I said that I was on the guest list – but apparently not on the one they had.
She said that in worst case they’d just simply let me in, but if I was supposed to have a backstage pass, they needed approval from the band. I didn’t know if it was “just” a ticket or an actual guest pass, I never ask these things. I’m grateful for whatever. :)
So a guy shows up with a handwritten note, saying that the only had “these” names on the Firewind-list – and was about to make a few calls to get me in – as they all understood that I wasn’t a local, I had travelled from Sweden for this event. Would suck big time to be stuck outside the box office!
Five seconds later HE got a call, and next thing I know, he comes back and hands me my AAA-pass. Everything was cool. What a relief. :)
Unusually friendly and helpful staff, I’m used to the “nope, you’re not on the list, not my problem – NEXT!!” -sort of people. The Rock in den Ruinen people went out of their way to help out – I truly appreciate that!
Hadn’t heard of any of the bands on the bill except Firewind. The only artist I remember was some psycho dude who was much like an escaped mental patient playing some sort of circus/varietee punk/Rammstein mix of some sort with belly-dancers and flutists on stage. Just weird but in an interesting sort of way. :)
Bob (Katsionis) was outside with some people talking, so I ended up talking to a super nice photographer who had taken the live-photo that Firewind will be using for the live-CD that’s coming out this summer. :)
He wasn’t a full time photographer, but loved going to gigs whenever he could. I can relate to that – it’s the rock’n’roll that keeps us sane (or insane, whichever way you choose to look at it, lol!).
The show was great – REALLY great. I keep saying that every time, don’t I? But the fact of the matter IS that this is a brilliant live-band, it’s as simple as that. But then there are evenings when they spice it up even more and deliver “with a twist”. That’s what they did in Dortmund.
Maybe because it’s the home town of their record label Century Media, but I just think they were in one of those “let’s kick some ass“-sort of moods last night! :)
Kelly did an excellent job, he was really belting it out, and he’s clearly a lot more comfortable as a live-frontman now than he was the first time I saw him a few months ago in Atlanta and NYC. He’s definitely developing into a good frontman.
Cause it’s tough to get thrown into a band like Firewind which is 100% a live band. If you don’t have the same background, you’re in for quite a challenge. But he’s really catching up fast. Great job, I was impressed.
[One of my favorite songs from the latest album…]
“Gus is such a poser”, was a comment I heard from a photographer backstage – in a positive sense. We love posers, they make great photos and videos, give us more posers! :)) It’s almost impossible to take a bad live photo of Gus, and that goes for my video-filming as well. If you’re gonna be a guitar-hero, you gotta be one – all the way. And Gus certainly is.
He’s the born entertainer. We all know that he kicks everyone’s ass on guitar. But he owns his stage, every single time. However, he gets tough competition from Bob Katsionis who keeps up with him like it’s a walk in the park – not only in the guitar duels but also by showing off his multitasking-skills on keyboards/guitar. It’s the perfect showstopper and jawdropper-combo! :)
Music is not a contest, but it’s a good thing when you’ve got someone in your band who challenges you to deliver not just your best but even better than your best- and never get too comfortable.
Petros (bass) was in a great mood spending more time than he usually does at the front part of the stage – and all of this backed up by the Belgian monster-drummer Jo Nunez whose sticks are seconds from being set on fire by the speed…! Man.
Together they are like a speeding train, you just can’t stop them – and I LOVE the energy!
[Take THIS!!]
After the show I was pretty much just hanging with the photographer dude again. He kept saying that since I had the triple-A pass, I could go anywhere, so he did’t undestand why didn’t I just go in there and say hi to the band.
I’ve never been comfortable doing that. I probably never will be. They were in the catering-tent having dinner. I had no business being back there. It’s simply what I would consider “band-time”. It would feel totally wrong to just barge in uninvited. Sure, I’ve got the “right kind of pass” but I’m not going to abuse that privilege.
So eventually, Kelly and Jo came to hang out a little. It was freezing though – like it can be in the spring when it’s humid and the cold really gets really annoying.
[The sun was setting behind the backstage area this chilly spring evening in Dortmund, Germany…]
We decided to go to Firewind’s “dressing room” (=tent) but the security guy took Kelly for somebody else and wouldn’t let him through! What a dork.
Apparently he looked a lot like someone they didn’t want backstage so he had to prove he was in the band! Lol!
Jo was trying to get the photographer in with us, cause normally you can escort a guest with your AAA-pass. But the security dude was being an asshole, so we had to part ways with the photographer. He was cool about it though.
It wasn’t a lot warmer in that tent, that’s for sure. The crew guys were working on getting the gear ready for transport, while the rest of us were just enjoying watching other people work, lol! :)
Nah, they are all great guys. Very relaxed atmosphere, always.
We got kindly thrown out though because the festival was “closing” so the backstage area had to be cleared. The guys were waiting for their shuttle and I had to go get my rental car. The whole afterparty-idea fell throuh – for me at least. I headed back to Düsseldorf airport to spend my second night being sleepless.
I was tired, but I was on that “after-show high” that makes it impossible to unwind to get some sleep. By the time I got off the kick, I was afraid to fall asleep cause I was so dead tired that I would probably pass out completely and miss my flight.
Came home to Malmo looking like I’ve been hit by a truck and run over by a bulldozer – five times. But I still think it was worth it, like it is every single time. This is just a solid band, and I can’t wait for people to discover them at Sweden Rock Festival in June. :) They’re in for a treat, and this is one of few bands that I never have to worry will suck – cause they just never have.
So – over and out from Malmo – I’m off to Dreamland…!
In bed and in a broom-cupboard – been there, done that!
Came to think of some of the weirdest or funniest interview-occasions I’ve been involved in through the years. Generates a big smile every time. :)
One of the craziest ones was with Pretty Maids when they were playing at the KB-hall in Copenhagen. I was doing the interview for radio, so it had to be somewhere quiet.
But they were doing sound check out there in the big concert arena (those were the days of arena-rock…) so you kept hearing that annoying “ONE….TWO…!” everywhere you went.
After having walked through the entire KB Hall, trying to open various doors without luck, one door suddenly opened. It was the broom-cupboard! Perfect!
With all those brooms and buckets in there, it was definitely sound proof!
Let me tell you, five people in a small broom-cupboard was not easy to organize, and it must have looked absolutely ridiculous if anyone had walked in on us. But they were good sports, took it with a grain of salt and just laughed about it. When asking for a radio ID, this is what I got:
So, you just make the best of the situation. :) It was fun though, having one foot in an empty bucket and the other one on a vacuum-cleaner while trying to be a serious reporter…! The good part? There were NO sound check noises on the tape! ;P
Another strange interview was with the ladies of Vixen when they were on tour with Deep Purple in the early 90’s. Their hotel suite didn’t have CHAIRS. But… it DID have a king-size HUGE bed in the room, so, we all just crawled onto the bed and did the interview there. :) Talk about RELAXED, huh? ;) Here’s Roxy and Share from that “bed interview”….
Janet Gardner walked in later towards the end of the interview, she wasn’t on this taped version.
Other strange things, not necessarily interview-related…. I was doing an exclusive interview with Alice Cooper at SAS Radisson in Malmoe ages ago (didn’t even know until the last minute if he would do it or not) and on my way out,
I met his band in the elevator on my way down. They were in a party mood and asked if I lived nearby. I said I lived almost just around the corner and they got all excited and wanted to come over to my place and party! They got so seriously into that idea that I didn’t know HOW to tell them that it wouldn’t happen.
I was still living with my parents, and just the thought of my mother walking around the house with curlers in her hair and dad being half asleep in front of the TV – and then me walking in with Alice Cooper’s band….just felt slightly bizarre. :)
I told my mom about what happened, and she was almost disappointed that I hadn’t invited them. Her comment? “I could have served them cookies and we had orange juice in the fridge…!”.
Oh. My. God. I’m SO glad that I DIDN’T say yes to THAT! Talk about total humiliation and embarrassment for a young rocker girl. Maybe I would have been more cool about it today but not back then.
Another slightly strange situation happened with Judas Priest. I had done an interview with them in the afternoon and they asked if me and the photographer wanted to come back after the show and hang out. I said I couldn’t cause it was Halloween and I was invited to a Halloween-party. Meaning – I was going to be dressed as some sort of ghost. Or something.
“Even better!” they laughed. Well…. Suit yourself, I thought, so we walked through security after the show that evening, wearing Morticia and ghost-makeup! If Priest even for a moment had thought that we were kidding they were now aware that we weren’t. ;)
It doesn’t happen often that the BAND starts digging for their cameras to take pictures of their GUESTS, but that’s what happened in this case. Either way, it was a fun evening!
[Me and K.K Downing after the show on Halloween!]
Then of course there was the interview that turned into a cookie-war that totally went out of hand. Electric Boys – crazy guys back in those days. Started with Niclas throwing a cookie at me for fun, I threw it back and before you knew it, cookies were flying across the room, people running around, pretty much stomping the chocolate cookie crumbles into the carpet and into the couch while screaming like three year olds.
The owner, Totte, opened the door in the middle of all this and saw me just as I was throwing a cookie. Oh great. The reporter from Kvällsposten acting like a total retard, caught in the act. Oops. The dressing room looked like World War 3, but at least we had fun! :)
Come to think of it – the past 25 years have been so much fun, I’ve loved every minute of it! And it ain’t over yet! :))
In love with a VOICE
Had one of those YouTube-evenings last night. THANK GOD for YouTube, it makes people discover and RE-discover things.
I fell in love with [Black Sabbath-] Tony Martin’s voice all over again. Made me remember the first time I saw him, or learned about his existence.
When Black Sabbath played in Copenhagen 1989, I was there to review it for Kvällsposten – the newspaper I was working for at the time. I remember being slightly reluctant at first, because I didn’t see myself as a Black Sabbath-fan at all. I didn’t like the Ozzy-era, was never much for the 70’s sound anyway, so I thought it was going to be an evening for the elderly.
Boy, was I wrong.
On stage was this guy I had never heard of before – Tony Martin. That voice just filled the whole arena with magic! Backed up by Tony Iommi’s legendary, heavy riffs, it totally blew me away. It was really like having one of those religious experiences. I was just filled with this “wow!” sort of feeling, jaw dropped, eyes wide open, heart beating faster from pure excitement – the music and that VOICE was out of this world!
He wasn’t exactly a hot dude by any means, but he could SING!
About a year later, Black Sabbath came back, and this time I made sure to catch their press conference. That was a classic one. If there had been cellphones back in those days, I would have taken a picture of it, but I’ll just settle for the picture in my head instead.
It was an oval table somewhere in the back of the KB-hall, looked like a catering -or a conference room, I’m not sure. Right next to me to the left was Cozy Powell, then right in front of me Tony Martin followed by Tony Iommi. I’m not sure if Neil Murray was there. I think he was but he didn’t say much.
The topic was the new album “Tyr“. Every journalist was asking about shit that had to do with the occult, devil-worshipping, satanism, religion…. It’s as if Black Sabbath were there to represent some Satanist church or something, and I could tell that Tony Martin was kind of annoyed by the whole thing.
While the others are more old-school british rock stars who have learned not to get too upset about anything, and to be very diplomatic about those questions, mr Martin was more openly pissed off, although he tried to restain himself. :)
I didn’t say much at that press conference. I was kind of star struck I think. Well,I was young, so I was allowed to be. ;)
It’s a strange thing – being in love with SONGS or VOICES. It has very little to do with the PEOPLE, as strange as that may sound. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to quite explain it. But it’s that same kind of feeling that you get when you’ve got a crush on someone, it’s like a drug, it makes you high, it just fills you with this feeling that’s larger than life.
And eventhough Tony Martin was the least interesting person in Black Sabbath to most other people, he was the MAIN reason why I even started listening to Sabbath.
I wrote him a letter at some point. I don’t really remember much about that letter, other than that he actually wrote back and I was so happy about it. Couldn’t believe he took time to write. This was before the internet made its entrance in people’s lives. (Just noticed now that he wrote that Sabbath were bringing Bill Ward to do the South America-shows…. Those were the days, huh?)
When I met Tony and Cozy Powell for an interview in Karlshamn, Sweden, in 1995, Cozy started chuckling the minute he saw me cause he probably knew that I was “the fan“. He was teasing Tony about it every chance he got, which I guess was just a feather in the hat for Tony. :)
In 1995 I travelled around to see Black Sabbath everywhere I got the chance. Took me over to the UK, the Sweden shows, Denmark….
I had a good contact with the Sabbath-members at the time. Even Tony Iommi was smiling his mysterious smile every time he saw me, going: “Tony will be down in a minute!”
One of the best memories I think was when Black Sabbath played in Copenhagen and I ended up being mr Martin’s guide around town.
He went to HMV to see if they had the new Sabbath-album, went to a small shop that sold leather clothes, cause he needed a new jacket, went to the exchange-office as he needed Danish money… And after all that walking, he got hungry and we ended up at this little Italian restaurant.
I was slightly terrified, cause THAT hadn’t been in my plans and I didn’t have any money. So I got the cheapest food I could find on the menu, to fit my budget.
When I got my wine, it tasted like vinegar. Absolutely horrible. Tony saw my face and asked if I didn’t like the wine. “Noo, no it’s fine, it’s fine!” I tried to assure him, cause I couldn’t afford anything else.
The whole time I took for granted that I was paying for my own meal. I’m Swedish, we aren’t necessarily taking for granted that “the guy” pays. Especially when it’s not exactly a date.
Suddenly I see Tony waving for the waitress. Then he goes:
– The lady doesn’t like her wine. Do you have anything else?
“Holy fuck NOOO!” I thought. There wasn’t “anything else” I could afford, other than a glass of WATER… As it turned out, Tony paid for the whole thing, he looked at me like I was crazy when I took out my wallet to pay for my meal. “What are you doing? Put that away! I’ll take this!”
It was just a great dinner, Tony was nice and easy to talk to. At some point I said that I just loved “The Eternal Idol“. And he started singing the first few lines of it, right there.
I’ll never forget that. That VOICE, singing just for me, in a restaurant, I couldn’t have asked for a more memorable pasta-dinner…!
http://www.allmusic.com/song/eternal-idol-mt0029112067
When I got a modem for my Mac and internet started getting more common, I stayed in close touch with Tony through e-mail. I had collected everything he had done, demos and projects, his solo- thing, the whole hoopla. Was active on message-boards and it felt like all I did was arguing with assholes who kept talking about Ozzy or Dio, sometimes Ian Gillan or even Ray Gillen who hadn’t even been in the band long enough to be called a Sabbath-member, being “the real Sabbath”.
It just pissed me off that Tony never got the credit he deserved. Even to this day, I think that he was being treated like shit by many fans and even by Sabbath at some point. He contributed with a lot and sang on a few of my favorite metal albums of all time.
His only problem was that he wasn’t Ozzy. Other than that – he was amazing.
If someone asked me today who my favorite metal singer is – the answer is simple – Tony Martin.
I have my heroes, Rob Halford, Coverdale, Dio – all the legends. But if we’re talking about JUST the VOICE, it’s, hands down, T Martin.
He’s got this massive, huge masculine, powerful metal voice with all the depth and grid that’s needed for a heavy metal tune, but he’s also got the range to reach the higher notes, and do if effortlessly, getting those crystal clear notes that you usually hear by singers in the melodic rock genre.
He had it all, he could do the dark, mysterious vocal parts and he could go flying through the stratosphere in “Lost Forever” or “Eternal Idol“, well – anything that Sabbath wrote during his 10 years in the band.
He became a friend in a sense during those few years. I built his first, own official website. That was back in 1997. I think he had gone solo by then.
But… Well, he is a pretty stubborn personality and so am I. Although I think that back in those days I was more difficult to deal with than I am today. Basically – I got pissed off at him at some point in this website-making process, and he, of course, got even more pissed off at ME right back.
We haven’t spoken since. I went to his solo-tour throughout Sweden maybe 10 years ago or so, cause to me that whole thing was old news. It wasn’t to him. He was STILL pissed off, and I’m guessing he still is today. I don’t know, haven’t tried to contact him ever since.
But I still love his voice, and I always will – it’s one of a kind, I spent all morning listening to the 1987-1995 Sabbath albums on repeat again. He is absolutely outstanding – and if you haven’t heard these albums, do yourself a BIG favor and go get them!
Guess you’ll gave to refer to YouTube or a friend as those seem to be out of print, but everything is available through the web nowadays:
Eternal Idol
Headless Cross
Tyr
Cross Purposes
(Forbidden also had Tony singing on it but…not a fan of that particular album, eventhough it has its moments)
AMAZING PERFORMANCE BY TONY ON THE MISCHA CALVIN “EVOLUTION” ALBUM:
Fan or professional
I have a little photo-gallery at this Swedish mini-community, where I uploaded a few pics of some old meetings with random “rock stars”. I tend to get the same question over and over. “How did you get to meet all those legends?”
There’s never just one simple answer to that. If I was to sum it up in just two words, it would be luck and determination.
Some figure that it was through the job that I met all those. Maybe some of them, but I got my job through luck and determination as well.
Some thought I was just some blonde groupie-wannabe (you always get that shit when you’re a girl and you’re hanging with musicians) and I was accused of getting “special treatment” because of it.
I don’t know if I should laugh or get pissed off. Cause if those who said that had ANY idea what I went through to get to say hello to Dio or Steven Tyler or whoever back in the early days….! I remember standing for hours out in the pouring rain outside a stage door cause I wanted to meet Lemmy.
I was freezing my ass off outside Aerosmith’s hotel cause I wanted to meet Joe Perry (and ended up getting royal treatment by Steven Tyler instead. Me and a friend had initially been waiting in the hotel lobby, but back in those days when rock’n’roll was huge, hotel staff used to throw out everybody who weren’t guests at the hotel. Steven felt bad for us and invited us in, telling the staff it was okay and took time to talk to us and sign whatever….).
I’ve been hanging for hours in hotel lobbies, freezing outside of hotels in the middle of the night after shows, and travelled for miles to see some of my favorite bands. No royal or special treatment there, trust me.
Blackie Lawless from W.A.S.P decided that he wanted to invite me on the bus the last Swedish date of the Helldorado tour. The reason? I had been hanging with the guys from the opening act Get Animal and with Chris Holmes during their tour through Scandinavia, and also been front row at every show rocking out.
When Blackie was heading for the bus after the show in Malmo, there were lots of fans standing there waiting for him (including me) and he spotted me – pointed at me and went: “YOU! Come with me!”
I was scared chickenshit, thought he was pissed because I had been taking pictures or something. When a tall guy like Blackie, who isn’t exactly known for being Mr Sunshine, points at you and wants you to come with him, you don’t know WHAT to expect!
I followed him up on the bus and the manager closed the door in all the other fans’ faces. Bam! And there I was, thinking “oh crap… now what?”.
He totally changed his usual angry attitude, smiled and said: “I’ve seen you at every show. You seem to really enjoy the shows. So I thought I would do this. What have you got for me?”
He figured that I wanted something signed, and he was right. He signed everything, smiled, answered a few questions and was just very sweet. I’ve never seen Blackie like that.
So, it’s like every situation has had it’s own story and explanation. But I never got any “special treatment” just because I was a girl.
I used to take time off from school and hang all day outside a venue and watch the activity (I actually still enjoy doing that…) and there was always some bored bus driver or crew-guy who got curious and wanted to know what I was there for. We would end up talking, and a lot of times I would get invited to meet the band before or after the show. I never asked for it. They would offer.
And contrary to popular belief, very few (almost none) treated me like a groupie. I think I only got that shit maybe twice. One of them was David Lee Roth‘s bodyguard and the second one was some tour manager working for Megadeth back in the early 90’s. I got the “what’s in it for me?” crap, but I’d rather walk away than ever stoop to the groupie-level. Not my thing.
[David Lee Roth, not an easy man to get to stand still for two seconds…!]
I think I even had an advantage sometimes for not being just another groupie, which was otherwise extremely common back in the “good old days”.
I remember backstage after a Skid Row show in stockholm, I overheard Sebastian saying to his body guard “Get them out of here...” and nodded at the horde of stoked groupies. I quickly got up and started walking towards the exit. Didn’t want to get humiliated by being thrown out, I could walk myself thankyouverymuch…
Then I heard Sebastian yelling: “DANIELA!! WHERE ARE YOU GOING??”
“But you said…..”
“Not YOU! Get back in here!”
He totally cleared the backstage area but wanted me to stay, and we just spent the evening talking music. That was the only time groupies were not welcome backstage, by the way. Usually there was a whole smorgasbord of them after every show.
[With Sebastian after their opening gig with Guns n Roses in the Globe, Stockholm, 1991]
My point is that I think I distinguished myself a little back then, because I didn’t sleep with bands. Groupies were the big thing in the 80’s or 90’s – kind of part of the whole rock’n’roll dream package.
I was there because I loved their music with all my heart and they knew it. At the same time, I wasn’t a pain in the ass bringing my whole record collection to get it signed, it was totally up to them if they wanted me around or not.
So, the answer to “how did you meet all those?” is – I was determined and lucky. Invested many hours waiting for the artists I wanted to meet.
After I got my job writing about hard rock for Kvällsposten (major Swedish newspaper) in 1988, I could have met all of those by just doing interviews. And a lot of times I did. It just wasn’t the same. And I was torn between my two roles – professional or fan, and I couldn’t get those two roles to co-exist for a very long time.
When I was doing interviews, I felt a responsibility to be a pro, cause I wasn’t representing myself, I was representing a newspaper, a magazine, a radio station or a TV-station. It didn’t feel right to start asking for autographs or telling them how much I admired their music. I would have lost all credibility if I had done that.
So I separated those two roles. But that also felt weird. Once again remembering Skid Row – I had done an interview with them at the hotel in London 1991 (they played Docklands, the time when Sebastian wiped his ass with a newspaper article he didn’t like, in front of a few thousand people…).
After the show, I was among the fans outside the hotel cause I just wanted to be a FAN. Vanessa Warwick, who was working for MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball back in those days) arrived in a taxi, and saw me among the fans. She gave me a puzzled look and I’m sure she didn’t understand why I would be freezing there in the middle of the night, when I had already met the band earlier that day under more professional circumstances.
That was precisely the point. I didn’t want to be “professional” with bands I really liked. I was more comfortable not “being worthy”.
But that was then. We’re talking 20+ years ago. I was young, my attitude was different, well – I was a different person. NOW I don’t think it’s much of a problem being a fan and a professional at the same time. Maybe cause I’m not nearly as starstruck as I used to be.
Things are just way more…”cool” nowadays. :-) In some cases I’ve even been a part of the business longer than some of the bands I meet, so I feel differently about it.
Thank god. It only took me a lifetime to learn how to deal with that stuff.
So – I guess that maybe answers the question I keep getting “How did you meet all those legends?”
I just wanted to. The rest kind of happened by itself. :)
ASSHOLE FANS
Heavy metal is often said to be an outlet for aggression and frustration. That’s spot on, especially if you’re talking about going to live shows. Cause the main thing you need to know about live gigs is that it’s the law of the jungle – survival of the fittest.
And metalheads have definitely embraced the idea of gender equality too – because they don’t give a fuck if you’re a girl, they will gladly punch you, kick you, try to climb on you – whatever it takes to get you to move. Don’t expect being treated like a lady at a rock concert, you’re gonna get the same shit as any guy, if not worse. Take it or leave it.
But having been a rocker all my life, it’s not like I haven’t learned how to deal with these things. Bring it on.
A friend of mine told me about her experience at a Pretty Maids concert in Copenhagen the other night.
[Axl Rose gets pissed at random crowd-assholes: “You’re fucking up other people’s show!”]
“Their fans seem to consist of giant six-foot guys who haven’t been taught by their mothers to behave nicely. I tried to stay upright but the stage was just two inches high and the dude was hanging with his entire weight on me. I know he was aiming for the “little blonde slender lady” at the front cause he thought it would be a piece of cake to get her to move. Well – wrong bitch!
He tried every trick in the book to get me to move and when I fought back he gave me the kind of look that said “if you can’t take the pressure, get the fuck out”. So at some point while he was hung over me, I took the opportunity to lean on the monitor for support, then I reached back, streched and grabbed his family jewels – and TWISTED for all I was worth!
When I turned around his cocky face had vanished and he was staring at me with astonishment and probably pain – and what do you know. He left to find somebody else to bother!
I can accept those who are there to jump, scream and have a good time, but these assholes who are consciously trying to hurt others to give up their spot – THAT I will NOT accept!”
I know the feeling. Things that you would never do in any other situation, you will find yourself doing at a rock concert. And it feels good, because you don’t have to feel bad about it – those assholes are asking for it. I’m sure we’ve all been there. There’s always one or a few of those airheads at every show. To quote Dave Mustaine at a Megadeth concert at the Hard Rock Caf’e in Las Vegas, who pointed at a fan and said: “There is an asshole in every crowd. Guess you just volonteered!”
[Another yell-at-fashole fan incident: Megadeth-Mustaine vs The Laser Kid]
Brings me back to a W.A.S.P concert a few years ago when me and my friend Henny were standing in the front and some drunken tool decided that we had taken “his” spot. He was doing everything to get us to move and he just wouldn’t stop. Henny got pissed off and stomped on his toes with her high heel boots for all she was worth (man, it hurt just to SEE it, I can only imagine how it felt when that this pierced the dude’s toes!).
But he was too high on something to let that stop him, so I found myself doing something I’d never done before (and probably won’t try again) – I thrusted back my head, full force and hit him right in the face. Nice headbutt, it even ached in MY head, I honestly didn’t dare to turn around to see what that did to the dude. Must have broken his nose or kicked out a few teeth, I don’t know. All I know is that after that – the torture stopped!
[Dave Grohl: Hey, you motherfucker in the striped shirt! Get the fuck out of my show right now!]
It’s not like you would EVER do anything like that in ANY other situation. But sometimes it just feels like you have the right to do it.
Some bands have asshole crowds, more than others. Motley Crue is one of those bands. Their audience isn’t exactly the civilized kind – and by that I mean that eventhough there is always pressure in every front-row situation, some people are easier to deal with than others.
Even the Slayer-fans were nicer. It was HELL standing in the Slayer-crowd at Graspop, but two guys actually let me come between them so I could lean on the barricade. Would NEVER happen with any Nikki Sixx-fanatic, that’s for sure.
[Henry Rollins beats up a fan who’s being a pain in the ass]
Whitesnake-fans are great, mostly people who are there to have a good time, sing along, jump or headbang to their favorite songs, whatever, but basically, it’s a cool crowd. You don’t have to worry about being beaten up. The worst assholes don’t listen to Whitesnake. Thank god.
It can be annoying, cause fans who are in the front row have been standing somewhere for hours just to be first in line to secure that front row spot. So when some smelly idiot, who just got in (cause he was busy getting drunk somewhere), starts making trouble, it’s simply not something you are willing to put up with.
I don’t have a problem with fans going wild and crazy at a concert because they love the music. That goes with the territory, go ahead, go nuts, it’s what we’re all here for! But THOSE types whose mission in life is to create trouble, deserve whatever they get!
And just cause I’m a girl doesn’t mean that I don’t have a few tricks up my sleeve. Just TRY to move me..:! In the 27 years I’ve been going to gigs, that has never happened. And believe me – it never will. I don’t care if you’re 6 foot tall and weigh a ton. I ain’t moving.
When I got back from the W.A.S.P shows on the Helldorado tour, I had bruises all over my body. I was green, yellow, purple, black, blue….. At every show there was “one of those” types trying to get me to move. Over my dead body! And well, it wasn’t far from it! :)
[Carries on playing, like a boss…]
Another annoying thing, while I’m at it, is people who are trying to tell you what rock’n’roll is. I’m sorry, but I feel that at this point in my life, I certainly don’t need some little dweeb telling ME what rock’n’roll is!
Like pretty recently, when H.E.A.T played in Malmo, I was in the front taking pics, filming a bit, minding my own business. Suddenly somebody behind me started pulling my hair (wtf?!?!).
When I turned around, there was some chick with a bad “trendy” haircut, glasses and a ruffled blouse (!) yelling: “Come on! Dance! It’s rock’n’roll”.
Oh please. That wasn’t even worth a response. Some chick who is at her first concert this year, is trying to educate me in what to do at a concert?! I overheard her yelling to her friend with her screechy annoying voice “why are they in the front?”. BECAUSE WE GOT HERE BEFORE YOU, bitch!
Nobody was stopping miss Ruffle to get in the front row, stop whining.
[“You just fuckin’ pushed my grump-button!”]
Besides, what people do at a show is nobody’s business, as long as they aren’t hurting anyone else. I was a bit surprised at Bruce Dickinson’s reaction to some fan in the crowd who was texting throughout the whole gig. I mean, yeah okay, might not be overly “rock’n’roll” but the dude paid for his ticket!
Even if he wants to go in there and take a fucking NAP it’s still his business. Paying for a concert ticket doesn’t mean that you are obliged to act a certain way. Again – do whatever you want as long as you’re not bothering somebody else. Pretty much the same rules that apply outside a concert arena.
[“Oh, for fuck’s sake, the man the white shirt, you’ve been texting for the last fucking three songs! You’re a wanker!”]
I’ve been asked a few times how I can experience a show “properly” if I’m standing with a camera in my hands. Well, first of all, I see the show even BETTER through the camera because I can zoom up close with it – kind of like using binoculars at the opera.
Secondly, if I like a band, I want good footage of them as it’s a PR-thing for the band as well to have good quality videos on YouTube as opposed to the awful, crappy cellphone versions with bad audio. Thirdly, I can always go back and re-live my memories anytime I want by watching those videos.
Also, it depends what kind of band it is. If it’s AC/DC it’s just a party and I might want to jump and go wild for a few songs and THEN do the photo-thing. Other bands are more the kind where I’m STUDYING and listening carefully. It’s nedy but after thousands of shows, you just get a little less nuts at gigs, as you’ve seen so much already.
It’s harder to get the same kind of kicks that you did back when you were a teen. I experience live gigs differently. Firewind for instance, that I’ve seen a million times now – I still find little bits and pieces in their music that I haven’t noticed before and it’s just a cool feeling to “suddenly” discover that eventhough you’ve heard the songs so many times before.
Live and let live. Go to shows, get wild, have a good time, sing along, do your headbanging or your jumping, whatever makes you feel good – or be a nerd and be just a spectator (even if you want to text people or update your Twitter or Facebook-status during the show) go the fuck ahead! It’s 2013 and the rules for how to behave at a rock concert have changed. And if you’re one of those “complimentary assholes”, you’re only going to get what you deserve….!
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 